The Winter Wilderness is Almost Over!

I'm thankful the winter wilderness is almost over both outside and inside.  This hit me today as I celebrate my 49th birthday and begin my 50th year. The celebration is only a few hours old and I have already been deeply encouraged by the well wishes from friends and family, but most of all from the Lord.

First, I woke up early this morning to read from Leviticus...not the most inspiring book of the Bible if you've ever read it before.  But this morning of all mornings I turned to Leviticus 25:8ff where I discovered that the 49th-50th  year is the best year of all!  God called it the year of Jubilee, a year of freedom, rest, and joy!  And God ordained the year of Jubilee for the Jews because He loves His children.  This inspired me to look to my 49th birthday as the beginning of my year of Jubilee, freedom, rest, and JOY.

I was inspired again as I listened to the song "Jubilee," by one of my favorite musicians/Bible teachers, Michael Card, which led me to  another song with deep meaning.  Recently I've been experiencing a winter wilderness experience of sorts.  Most of us can identify with those times of wandering and wondering what God is doing.  For most of us those times are filled with loneliness, silence of God,  and long hard walking often in the dark.  The song, "In the Wilderness", by Michael Card reminds us there is value in the wilderness.  In his introduction he summarizes,

Every significant event in the history of salvation happens  in the wilderness.  In its own way it is a more blessed place than the Promised Land.... And today, God leads us to the wilderness as well so that we might learn how much we need Him.

In the wilderness 

He calls his sons and daughters 

To the wilderness

But he gives grace sufficient

To survive any test

And that's the painful purpose 

of the Wilderness

In the wilderness we wander 

In the wilderness we weep

In the wasteland of our wanting

Where the darkness seems so deep

We search for the beginning

For an exodus to home

And find that those who follow Him

Must often walk alone

In the wilderness we're wondering 

For a way to understand

In the wilderness there's not a way

For the Way's become a man

And the man's become the Exodus

the way to holy ground

but wandering in the wilderness

Is the best way to be found.

Groaning and growing

Amidst the desert days

The windy winter wilderness

Can blow the self away

Just what I needed to hear!

Finally, I received a call of hope.  I've wanted to reconnect with a man I've respected highly for years, but thought our paths would never cross again.  But this morning I found out that he only lives a couple hours away and would be available for a get together.

With tears of joy in my eyes, I'm thankful the winter wilderness is almost over and for the way my year of Jubilee has begun!

Dangers of Grace:"Self-righteousness Against the Self-righteous"

There is nothing new under the sun.  The wisest man ever told us that in the book of Ecclesiastes centuries ago.  And it's true today.


Years ago while pursuing my college education I saw a trend among my peers: becoming self-righteous about their superiority over the self-righteous.  They had experienced a level of grace which the previous generation had not yet attained.  As a result they boasted about it, flaunted it, and in some cases abused the grace they were just then discovering.

Nothing is new under the sun.  According to the grandson of Billy Graham, Tullian Tchividjian, the arrogance of grace is a danger for this new generation as well.  In his book, Surprised by Grace,  he warns of one of the danger of grace:

"Many younger evangelicals today are reacting to their parents' conservative, bottoned-down, rule-keeping flavor of 'older brother religion' with a type of liberal, untucked, rule-breaking flavor of 'younger brother irreligion.'  It screams out, 'That's right! I know I don't have it all together, and you think you do; I know I'm not good, and you think you are.  And that makes me better than you!  See the irony?  We become self-righteous against the self-righteous." (p. 146, italics the authors)

He goes on to explain his own struggle with grace.

"Personally, I tend to resonate less with the rule keepers and more with the rule breakers-with those who have such a tough time staying on the narrow road.  We're the kind who really love the gospel and God's grace because we feel our need so strongly; we know how desperate we are .  But it's easy for us to feel a sense of superiority over all those upright-looking church people, whom we assume just don't really get the gospel."

I can identify with Tullian, how about you?  Give some extra grace today.  Hopefully someone will give more than a handful to you as well.